" I'm going to write a book someday and the title will be
I'M AN ASS, YOU'RE AN ASS. That's the most liberating, wonderful
thing in the world, when you openly admit you're an ass. It's
wonderful. When people tell me, "You're wrong". I say, "What can
you expect of an ass"?
Disarmed, everybody has to be disarmed. I n the final liberation, I 'm
an ass, you're an ass. Normally the way it goes, I press a button and
you're up; I press another button and you're down. And you like that.
How many people do you know who are unaffected by praise or
blame? That isn't human, we say. Human means that you have to be
a little monkey, so everybody can twist your tail, and you do
whatever you OUGHT to be doing. But is that human? If you find me
charming, it means that right now you're in a good mood, nothing
more. It also means that I fit your shopping list. We all carry a
shopping list around, and it's as though you've got to measure up to
this list - tall, um, dark, um, handsome, according to MY tastes. "I
like the sound of his voice". You say, "I'm in love". You're not in love,
you silly ass. Any time you're in love - I hesitate to say this - you're
being particularly asinine. Sit down and watch what's happening to
you.
You're running away from yourself. You want to escape. Somebody
once said, "Thank God for reality, AND for the means to escape from
it". So that's what's going on. We are so mechanical, so controlled.
We write books about being controlled and how wonderful it is to be
controlled and how necessary it is that people tell you you're O.K.
Then you'll have a good feeling about yourself. How wonderful it is to
be in prison!"
Anthony de Mello
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